Tuesday, January 27, 2009

My son, like other children, is always trying to explore the many avenues of expressing creativity. Drawing, building, playing, whatever it may be, I usually am very accommodating. It brings me great joy to watch him create. I love watching his mind work. But very recently, his creativity was almost his death.

The little beast likes to get out of bed at night. I put him down, kiss him and go upstairs. He usually gets out of bed and "goes to the bathroom" for a half an hour. Or he sneaks out to my computer and messes with the keyboard. Harmless for the most part. I don't get too mad and I just send him back to bed. Well, the other night, I was singing a much different tune.

Jack had "been in bed" for about a half an hour. I came downstairs and he wasn't in bed, but the door to my arteest sister Mallory's studio was open. My heart dropped right into my stomach. He was behind the easel with paint brush in hand. He gave me the most intense look of horror as he was realizing he was supremely busted. Fire began to spew from my eyes and my shiny fangs sprang forth. I almost ripped him in half.

I put him back in bed. Terrified, I then went back to the studio to inspect the damage. Sure enough, Mallory's painting was ruined. Jack had taken a wet paint brush and had made huge streaks all over the canvas. I called my sister and through tears, I explained that Jack had ruined two weeks worth of work. My sweet sister was so understanding and said the painting was merely practice. I told her I appreciated her calmness, but I instructed her to get mad at Jack. He needs to know that what he did was totally unacceptable.

Notice the brush strokes all over the face, neck and shirt.Totally ruined.

So he is creative, at all hours of the night. Maybe I need to give him a new medium. He is off paint for a while. How about playdough?

1 cup flour1/2 cup salt2 Tbsp cream of tartar2 Tbsp vegetable oil1 cup warm water1 3 oz package of Jell-O (any flavor) Combine ingredients and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until it thickens and pulls away from the sides of pot and becomes dull. Mold and knead with the wooden spoon until cool enough to touch. Turn it out onto a table and continue kneading until cool enough for little hands to play with it. Store in a closed plastic bag.

Rookie's Notes: Keep the heat at medium. This stuff burns really easy.You can eat it if you really want, but it tastes terrible.

15 comments:

Okay, first off, I think the pic looks awesome with the brush strokes all over it. You never know what is going to be famous some day. Next, when you say mold and knead till cool enough to touch...who's job is that? If it's burning hot, who's kneading it. And last, can you eat it??

Haha, if you ask me, it was pretty funny. Really, its my fault, I left the room that day thinking to myself, "I should probably lock that, Jack comes in and sees me painting, we talk about how we will paint together sometime soon.... I should probably lock that." I decided it was no big deal if something happened. It was just some practice, nothing to be upset over. I hated getting mad at him, but it was for the best:)

Whitney.....I'm pretty sure jack is a creative or artist genius. How???? How did you he where to brush so as to make that painting super duper awesome......Well, I'll tell you....genius.---Jashe ( formerly known as Jason)

Stumbled upon your blog (great graphics, btw!) when looking for a jello playdough recipe. Just made it - only had 1.5tb of cream of tartar and only 2 oz of (sugar free) jello. I tasted it to see what my 2.5yo son might taste when he eats it (because I know he will!) and Oh. My. God. It's horrrriiiiibbbblllllee! Blech! Love the consistency, but at least it's "real" ingredients versus Playdoh! Thanks for the post!